BOLTON Wanderers can avoid the drop according to the town’s leading figures.

The Whites are facing a relegation crunch match on Sunday — the last day of the football season.

The team must beat Stoke — and Queens Park Rangers must lose to Manchester City — in order for Wanderers to stay up.

Chief executive of Bolton Council, Sean Harriss, says he will be cheering for Wanderers as having a Premier League club has raised the town’s status nationally.

He added: “Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League over the past decade has been a fabulous boost for the borough and for our profile nationally.

“Their fighting spirit is undimmed in what has been a difficult season for them. I’m sure that, with one final push, they can make it out of the drop zone as the great survivors of 2011/2012.”

And Marie Walsh, well-known owner owner of Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe, in Churchgate, Bolton, is also desperately hoping for a Whites victory on Sunday.

She said “I will have all of my fingers crossed” ahead of Bolton’s crucial trip to the Britannia Stadium.

Mrs Walsh added: “I couldn’t believe it when they threw the game away last weekend.

“But I really hope they will stay up and I think they will.”

But there is another team the pastie shop owner hopes will be victorious this weekend. “I really hope Manchester City win,” she said.